The present application relates generally to an improved data processing apparatus and method and more specifically to mechanisms for optimizing network file system clients for read-only exports or mounts to reduce network utilization and to increase performance.
Distributed file systems are file systems that do not share block level access to the same storage but instead use a network protocol. These are commonly known as network file systems, even though they are not the only file systems that use the network to send data. Distributed file systems can restrict access to the file system depending on access lists or capabilities on both the servers and the clients, depending on how the protocol is designed.
Network File System (NFS) is one example of a distributed file system protocol allowing a user on a client computer to access files over a computer network much like local storage is accessed. NFS, like many other protocols, builds on the Open Network Computing Remote Procedure Call (ONC RPC) system. NFS is an open standard defined in Request for Comments (RFC), allowing anyone to implement the protocol.